The daughter of an old soldier beaten black and blue for the sake of just £40 last has hit out at the thug who left her father in hospital.

Pat Kurila, the daughter of 78-year-old Bill Hopkins, broke down as she branded the attacker the “lowest of the low” during a press conference at West Midlands Police’s Lloyd House headquarters yesterday.

The 52-year-old teaching assistant, from Highgate, said: “We could have been burying him.

“Whoever did this is the lowest of the low.”

William Hopkins, aged 78, was attacked from behind and knocked to the floor

Great-grandad Bill Hopkins was savagely attacked by a thug believed to have followed him from a betting shop where he won the cash.

He suffered a broken jaw, spent two days in hospital and is still unable to eat solid food more than a week after the attack.

Widower Bill lost £40 – the proceeds of a flutter on the horses – as well as bank cards and a memorial card to his late wife Peggy.

The callous attacker searched his pockets as he lay defenceless on the ground.

Police believe the crook followed him from a Ladbrokes in the Arcadian Centre, where he won the £40.

He was pinned down outside his house in Gooch Street, Digbeth, at around 8pm on November 10.

Bill at 18 on National Service

Mrs Kurila said: “Police think he was hit on the back of the head and the robber or robbers took his wallet and rifled through his shirt and trouser pockets thinking he had more cash on him.”

She said her dad must have regained consciousness, let himself into his house and phoned her.

“I rushed straight round and found him standing in the kitchen with his head pouring with blood,” she said.

“He told me he was hurt but couldn’t remember how it happened.”

An ambulance was called and Bill spent two days in City Hospital.

But Bill bravely insisted the assault – described by police as “vicious and desperate” – would not force him to seek refuge behind his front door.

“Police reckon someone in the bookies had watched me pick up my winnings and then followed me home,” Bill said.

Bill (far left) and pals in Singapore

“I got to my house and picked up a plastic bag from the ground and that’s all I remember.”

And he said his biggest anguish was being forced to miss the Remembrance Sunday commemorations.

The pensioner, who did his National Service in Germany and Malaya with the 11th Hussars, nicknamed the Cherry Pickers, said: “It hasn’t put me off going out and doing things, not at all.

“I will carry on as normal – I won’t let anyone dictate to me what I should or shouldn’t do.

“The thing that most annoyed me was that I couldn’t go to the remembrance parade on the Sunday as I do every year.”

Bill Hopkins with other old soldiers at last year's Birmingham Remembrance Day parade

Det Con Lee Dawson said: “This was a vicious attack on a vulnerable person because of his age, the time of night and the fact he was alone.

“Somebody out there knows who has done this to Bill and we urge them to come forward.”

Bill, whose wife died three years ago, has lived in his house since 1969 and has two daughters, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Anyone with information should call Force CID on 101 or Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555 111.